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Ex-Soviet states sign economic pact

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW SEPT. 19. Russia and three other most powerful former Soviet states have sealed an economic integration pact in defiance of strong Western opposition to the plan.

Meeting on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Yalta, the Presidents of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus today signed an agreement to form a Single Economic Zone that provides for a customs union, free movement of goods, capital and labour, and a common tax, monetary and foreign trade policy.

The document was signed despite aggressive attempts by the U.S. and the European Union to torpedo the pact by persuading Ukraine to stay out of it. The U.S. Ambassador in Ukraine, John Herbst, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Guenther Verheugen, and a U.S. official with NATO, Bruce Jackson, have all warned Ukraine that joining the Single Economic Zone with Russia would set back Kiev's plans to become a member of the E.U. and the World Trade Organisation.

The unprecedented pressure was part of the West's attempts to tear Ukraine from the other former Soviet Republics and prevent these nations from jointly bidding for WTO membership.

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